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Digital Media in Education
Digital Media in Education Using Social Media
The education landscape is undergoing a seismic effect, fueled by the burgeoning presence of digital media. From interactive learning platforms to virtual reality classrooms, technology is changing the way we teach and learn, offering a double-edged sword of immense potential and inherent challenges. This discourse revolves around two key questions: Can social media enhance education, and if so, how can we navigate its potential pitfalls? Social media platforms like YouTube and educational blogs offer a wealth of free, easily accessible content. Facebook groups and online forums create spaces for students and educators to connect, share ideas, and engage in collaborative learning. Imagine discussing a challenging concept with peers from across the globe or receiving feedback on a project from professionals in the field. Based on previous studies, most students will use social media as a platform to communicate or share ideas and knowledge with their lecturer (Sudha and Kavita, 2016). The youth will use a device such as a smartphone or a tablet to communicate with each other. This is because social media offers an easy-to-use service that is comfortable to be used by anyone (Thulin 2017).
The rapidly evolving world demands a new set of skills, and digital media helps prepare students for success. They learn critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity by navigating online resources, evaluating information and creating digital content. Imagine designing a sustainable city prototype in a virtual environment or coding a program to solve a real-world problem – these are just a few ways technology helps develop essential 21st-century skills. Navigating social media responsibly teaches students critical thinking information evaluation and online safety skills, crucial for thriving in the digital age, imagine analyzing the credibility of Online sources or learning how to manage privacy settings on platforms.
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As stated by Milena Tsvetkova, the correlation between social media as a communication tool and the behaviour of adolescents has been carefully studied. It was revealed that in this age group, the two most powerful motivations are the desire to gain recognition and the desire to belong to a particular group. Social networks naturally facilitate the formation of groups and are intended for this. However, marketing techniques and modern product promotion strategies based on the characteristics of user psychology led to greater addiction. Thus, adolescents often want to correspond to an unrealistic ideal, which is found on a social network and there may be depression caused by the inability to match it.
The internet has become a vast library of knowledge, accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Students are no longer limited to the resources within their immediate vicinity. Imagine researching a historical event by accessing original documents, participating in online discussions with historians, or attending a virtual lecture by a renowned expert – these are just a few ways of technology expands learning opportunities. Teaching and learning are essential elements in traditional education which is the conventional and historical system of education that has been prevalent for many decades. Traditional education is characterized by face-to-face formal classroom-based instruction, lecture-style teaching and a focus on route learning and memorization. In traditional learning, the teacher is the authority of information, and the students are passive receivers of knowledge (Doyle, 2001). There is a strong emphasis on conformity and standardized testing and the curriculum is typically rigid and set by each country. While traditional education has its roots in the past, many schools and institutions still use this approach today even though online or remote education are also used as alternatives as stated by Kaan Guney.
There are also a few limitations in the age of Digital media in Education:
The Digital Divide as Unequal access to technology and internet connectivity creates a significant barrier for many students. The “digital divide” can exacerbate existing educational inequalities and widen the achievement gap. Addressing this issue requires initiatives to bridge the gap through infrastructure development, device subsidies and digital literacy training. The digital world is rife with distractions from social media notifications to online games. Additionally, the abundance of information online can be overwhelming, and students may struggle to discern credible sources from misinformation. Fostering responsible digital citizenship through education and technology tools is crucial.
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Using social media in the classroom is not meant to be definitive but is comprehensive. It covers everything from theory and pedagogy to everyday practice. It describes the “big stuff” of blogs, wikis, social media and podcasting and how those things can support longer-term classroom projects and it details the “small stuff” that can give you quick classroom wins, such as instant messaging, Pinterest, Twitter (X), mind mapping and document sharing as stated by Megan Poore.
Social media platforms have become significant media for participating in society. This and society’s digitalization overall, has resulted in concerns regarding access and inclusion. By combining theories of social media participation and digital inequality, we explore issues regarding the prerequisites of participating through social media platforms, focusing especially on education. Information navigation, social, creative and mobile skills and show how operational skills are significant mediators between education and political participation in social media as stated by Leybeck, Robin and Koiranen.
Internet and social media platforms however provide an alternative path now. It appears a shortcut. Thanks to the quality awarded by cyberspace, one way to solicit an audience across the globe without necessarily having developed the relevant expertise as well as the required moral traits. Crucial in the number of ‘likes’, ‘retweets’, ‘comments’, and all the marketing tricks prevalent on the internet in general and social media in particular as stated by Ehsan Arzroomchilar.
Social media offers exciting possibilities for transforming education but demands a collective effort to leverage its potential responsibly. By addressing the challenges, implementing best practices and fostering a culture of digital citizenship, educators and parents. Let’s move beyond the “like” button and harness the power of social media to cultivate a deeper love for learning and build a future where everyone can connect, share and grow.
Reference
Student Academic Performance, Educational Factors and Collaborative Learning in Social Media: A New Conceptual Realisms
https://research.ebsco.com/c/np77rt/viewer/pdf/r7llhouhfj
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The use of social media for the Development of Digital Literacy of Students: From Adequate Use to Cognition Tools, 2021.
https://research.ebsco.com/c/np77rt/viewer/pdf/emdh4f7d2r
Picture retrieved from istockphoto.com by Rapideye
Considering the Advantages and Disadvantages of Utilizing Social Media to Enhance Learning and Engagement in K-12 Education.
https://research.ebsco.com/c/np77rt/viewer/pdf/rarno7ffdf
Using Social Media in the Classroom: A Best Practice Guide. Page 3/298
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/deakin/detail.action?docID=6408517
Image retrieved from istockphoto.com by RuriByaku
From digital divide to digital capital: the role of education and digital skills in social media participation, 2023.
Social Media and Religiosity A (Post)Phenomenological Account.
Artificial Intelligence in communication
The tapestry of human communication is undergoing a radical reweave, with the threads of artificial intelligence (AI) intricately woven into its very fabric. From the convenience of chatbots to the nuanced poetry of language models, AI’s fingerprints are increasingly present in how we connect, share, and understand each other. But this influence, like any metamorphosis, carries a kaleidoscope of effects, both enriching and unsettling.
One of AI’s most liberating impacts is its ability to shatter the walls of language barriers. Real-time translation tools powered by machine learning algorithms are breaking down the Babel of tongues, fostering cross-cultural communication and understanding. Imagine the global village truly becoming a reality, where ideas can flow freely from Tokyo to Timbuktu without the constraints of vocabulary. Furthermore, AI-powered speech-to-text and text-to-speech technologies empower individuals with disabilities to participate more fully in the conversation, bridging the gap between isolation and inclusion.
If traditional religious societies were built upon technologies of the Self and community ritual techniques, the digital age is witnessing a technological development that aims to transform the world into a multitude of functional, ecological, and aesthetic objects. Additionally, new forms of daily ritualization specific to consumer
society have emerged, facilitated by communication technologies. This is the new
context in which individuals in the digital age reconfigure themselves and
build their relational worlds amidst an inexhaustible diversity. The development of communication technologies and the technological world related to Artificial Intelligence stimulates concerns about the human being and their situation in the world. Existential anxieties and a lack of control over the dynamics of new entity development are part of the new reality for individuals fascinated by advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence, as stated by Sandu frunza.
Jess Hohenstein conducted an experiment on how AI in communications affects language and social relationship by randomly assigning 291 pairs to discuss a policy issue using our AI in one of four conditions: (1) Google smart replies (2) positive smart replies (3) negative smart replies (4) no smart replies were made available to both participants to use in conversation. He found that the availability of negative smart replies caused conversations to have more negative emotional content than conversations with positive smart replies and the widely-used Google smart replies which highlights the positive sentiment bias of smart replies in commercial messaging apps. Google smart replies had a similar effect on conversation sentiment as a set of positive smart replies but did not cause significantly more positive sentiment compared to having no smart replies available. Moreover, he stated that these shifts in language are driven by people’s use of smart replies rather than mere exposure to smart reply suggestions; repeating the analysis with smart reply messages omitted from the conversation corpus, he found minimal differences in conversation sentiment between the smart reply conditions. Taken together, these findings demonstrate how AI-generated sentiment affects the emotional language used in human conversation.
In the recent shift towards human-centric AI, the need for machines to accurately use natural language has become increasingly important. While a common approach to achieve this is to train large language models, this method presents a form of learning misalignment where the model may not capture the underlying structure and reasoning humans employ in using natural language, potentially leading to unexpected or unreliable behaviour, as stated by Niccolo Brandizzi
Many individuals and organizations haven’t yet experienced a compelling enough need to integrate AI into their communication processes. Existing tools and methods might seem adequate for current needs, making the investment in AI seem unnecessary. Although the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has been estimated to be up to 56% in the last decade, the adoption rate of AI for communication activities is still low. The lack of in-depth literature on the subject, and the limited sharing of the experience gained by companies, limits the creation, dissemination, and consolidation of understanding in this area, as stated by Lea Laia.
Chatbots, one of the widely used artificial intelligence technologies, have become an integral part of e-commerce user conversations (Balakrishnan & Dwivedi, 2021b). Numerous companies have built chatbots and used them as their preferred channel of interaction and communication with consumers. For example, Apple’s “Siri”, Baidu’s “Xiaodu”, Xiaomi’s “Xiao Ai”, Alibaba’s “My Honey” and Telegram’s embedded chatbots, have been used in many fields for a wide range of purposes. The existence of AI chatbots can be divided into virtual presence and physical entities. Virtual presence chatbots can be further divided into task-oriented chatbots and non-task-oriented chatbots. AI chatbot input can be not only natural language (text, voice, or both), but in the future, facial expressions, body movements, etc (Figure 1). AI chatbots will respond like real people, output conversations, or execute commands, as stated by Jinjie Li and Lianren Wu.
By focusing on these chatbot-related factors and constantly improving them, businesses can build trust with their customers and reap the benefits of effective AI-powered conversational experiences.
It’s important to note that these factors can interact and influence each other. For example, a fast and efficient chatbot might seem less trustworthy if it lacks empathy or uses overly technical language. Likewise, a highly knowledgeable chatbot might lose trust if it takes too long to respond or has a clunky interface.
The story of AI and communication is far from over. By taking a critical yet optimistic approach, we can ensure that this metamorphosis contributes to a future where technology amplifies, rather than diminishes, the richness and humanity of our interactions.
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Podcast
In today’s world, there are two sides, one that is linked to the real world and the other rother revolves around the internet. Considering the offline identity, Iwasa et al. (2023), stated that, this particular aspect is linked with an individual’s appearance or body language as well as their communication method. Based on the relationship and geographical context, cultural background is considered a vital aspect of one’s offline identity. While, as stated by Branje et al. (2021), family, colleagues, or friends play a vital role in shaping one’s identity. While, on the other hand, online identity is created by using posts, comments, and other activities across various social media platforms. According to Ghosh, (2023), this type of identity is tied to an online group in which an individual engages, and shares one’s interests frequently using impressive content posts or emojis. This online identity either highlights authenticity or might pose challenges to acknowledging or understanding the actual self. However, as per my personal context, my online identity is restricted to certain limits as I don’t prefer to expose much on social media. There are certain groups, communities, or individual that are majorly involved in business-related activity that intend to share their way of thinking and perspective with the world. On the other hand, the only people I share with are all close ones or those I know personally. My followers and following on Instagram are very limited as I prefer to engage and interest face-to-face revealing diverse facial extensions, emotion enabling me to bond positively and build genuine and long-term relations.
Underlying upon this, people in the real world are influenced by the cultural norms or the location or community they interact with. While, Procter, (2021), pointed out that an online persona highlights another reversion of an individual that is been demonstrated using profile pictures, posts, comments, captions, and other activities. Despite the freedom to share, my online persona has evolved from the initial to the present day. For instance, I have been lately putting my interest on philosophical aspects that are reflected in some of the posts that showcase Journalism reality, psychological facets, and others. However, the offline identity is pretty straightforward and requires no emojis or puzzled words to express one interest while on the other internet or social media makes it to build alternative characters to appeal to and connect with a broad audience. However, my offline identity aligns with my online identity at a certain range which can be viewed through some of my posts revealing about life, highlighting simple little things broadly through captions.
However, my visibility is low as my posts are limited and less active on Instagram despite clearly highlighting my bio using conscience words that reflect upon my interests as well as personality. To keep such substance to limit reach, I have adjusted the profile to the privacy setting. However, underlying this, in today’s modern world, people use social media as an effective tool to deliver valuable content. From accessing location to personal details, many individuals expose entirely which is an attempt to acquire popularity or to avoid non-verbal cues. Despite this, as stated by Qiao, Song & Wang, (2021), it is important to know that improving offline identity will lead to building trust with social groups and exposing authenticity that is considered to be valued both terms personally and professionally. Some believe that the more active person on social media, it will benefit in them from retaining valuable connections as it can reach worldwide which is difficult in terms of offline mode.
The above post highlights the caption “carefree not careless”, this emphasizes on freedom, energy, and enjoyment without compromising to neglect responsibility or perceptions. This reflects upon my offline identity highlighting my beliefs in managing both enjoyment and undertaking responsibilities. Moreover, focusing on my other post “In Trust We God”, the phrase that I have highlighted in the caption reveals my beliefs towards prioritizing longevity by investing in quality and saving value. This expresses my avatar as a well-rounded identity that not only cherishes joy and freedom but also on the side ensures the obligation is fulfilled. Throughout the year, I have seen changes in my character following the post now I showcase myself as limited with the blend of philosophical interest.
Sai Pradhan 